environment. enterprise. energy.

Ever Thought About Trees Going Extinct?

In the different households that HiGi has visited these past few weeks, wanna know what we noticed the most?

Usage of firewood and charcoal for cooking.

Now, let me ask you, where do these materials come from? Any guess?

Trees, right.

With the convergence of research and observation, we can say that majority of the people in the low-income bracket are accustomed to using firewood and charcoal in their day to day cooking. Why wouldn’t they when these are cheaper compared to the usage of electric cooking materials, or LPG. Many would say that cooking in firewood and charcoal requires low-level of maintenance and additional expenditure. Unfortunately, this is not far from the truth. For example, for electric cooking materials, aside from the electricity itself, there is a need to purchase a somehow costly equipment, like an induction cooking. Not to mention that induction cooker also requires specific types of pans. Wow! As for LPG, market average reveals that one big tank is around 500php.

Now, compare that to the average 10php to 15php for charcoal and/or firewood on a daily basis. Evidently, the latter would appear more sustainable to the people of the low-income bracket. If that is the case, can you imagine how many trees are being cut just to sustain the demands in charcoal and wood of the millions in the Philippines alone? Trees who could have served other options such as protecting the community against natural calamities and the sort.

Additionally, with the level of population growth in the country, imagine how much more the demand will increase for these cooking materials. Have you ever wondered what if, just what if, the supply cannot keep up with the demand anymore? Trees don’t just grow overnight, and yet, people cook more than once EVERY DAY!

With the limited resources that our planet has to offer, don’t you think it is time for us to act on this issue and make a difference in this world? For us HiGi, this is one aspect that we can step in.

Why, you say?

Water Hyacinth HarvestingWe in HiGi are into promoting biomass, particularly the use of water hyacinth to provide aid in cooking. Now, this we tell you, water hyacinth is far from going extinct as of this very moment. In fact, according to our research, pond owners are even considering it as some sort of a hindrance for them due to their high level of reproduction and growth rate. In average, water hyacinth can already double its number within 12 days.

BriquetteNow, don’t you think it is more sustainable to use resources that are of unlimited supply and are currently being considered useless by many? With the high and continuous supply of water hyacinth, not only are we not contributing the vulnerability of the environment to the natural disasters, we are also making things more useful. In the end, it maximizes the resources that Earth has to offer. We believe that that is one of the best contributions that HiGi can render to the community.